An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

An American Tragedy

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at Roberta’s door and enter, and was then positive that he

was the same young man she had seen that moonlight

night quarreling with Roberta.

And next, Whiggam, and after him Liggett, testifying as to

the dates of arrival of Clyde at the factory, as well as

Roberta, and as to the rule regarding department heads

and female help, and, in so far as they could see, the

impeccable surface conduct of both Clyde and Roberta,

neither seeming to look at the other or at any one else for

that matter. (That was Liggett testifying.)

And after them again, others. Mrs. Peyton to testify as to

the character of his room and his social activities in so far

as she was able to observe them. Mrs. Alden to testify that

at Christmas the year before Roberta had confessed to her

that her superior at the factory—Clyde Griffiths, the nephew

of the owner—was paying attention to her, but that it had to

be kept secret for the time being. Frank Harriet, Harley

Baggott, Tracy Trumbull and Eddie Sells to testify that

during December last Clyde had been invited here and

there and had attended various social gatherings in

Lycurgus. John Lambert, a druggist of Schenectady,

testifying that some time in January he had been applied to

by a youth, who he now identified as the defendant, for

some medicine which would bring about a miscarriage.

Orrin Short to testify that in late January Clyde had asked

him if he knew of a doctor who could aid a young married

woman—according to Clyde’s story, the wife of an employe

of Griffiths & Company—who was too poor to afford a child,

and whose husband, according to Clyde, had asked him for

this information. And next Dr. Glenn, testifying to Roberta’s

visit, having previously recalled her from pictures published

in the papers, but adding that professionally he had been

unwilling to do anything for her.

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And then C. B. Wilcox, a farmer neighbor of the Aldens,

testifying to having been in the washroom back of the

kitchen on or about June twenty-ninth or thirtieth, on which

occasion Roberta having been called over the long distance

telephone from Lycurgus by a man who gave his name as

Baker, he had heard her say to him: “But, Clyde, I can’t wait

that long. You know I can’t. And I won’t.” And her voice had

sounded excited and distressed. Mr. Wilcox was positive as

to the name Clyde.

And Ethel Wilcox, a daughter of this same C. B.—short and

fat and with a lisp—who swore that on three preceding

occasions, having received long distance requests for

Roberta, she had proceeded to get her. And each time the

call was from Lycurgus from a man named Baker. Also, on

one occasion, she had heard her refer to the caller as

Clyde. And once she had heard her say that “under no

circumstances would she wait that long,”‘although what she

meant by that she did not know.

And next Roger Beane, a rural free delivery letter-carrier,

who testified that between June seventh or eighth to July

fourth or fifth, he had received no less than fifteen letters

from Roberta herself or the mail box at the crossroads of

the Alden farm, and that he was positive that most of the

letters were addressed to Clyde Griffiths, care of General

Delivery, Lycurgus.

And next Amos Showalter, general delivery clerk at

Lycurgus, who swore that to the best of his recollection,

from or between June seventh or eighth and July fourth or

fifth, Clyde, whom he knew by name, had inquired for and

received not less than fifteen or sixteen letters.

And after him, R. T. Biggen, an oil station manager of

Lycurgus, who swore that on the morning of July sixth, at

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about eight o’clock, having gone to Fielding Avenue, which

was on the extreme west of the city, leading on the northern

end to a “stop” on the Lycurgus and Fonda electric line, he

had seen Clyde, dressed in a gray suit and wearing a straw

hat and carrying a brown suit-case, to one side of which

was strapped a yellow camera tripod and something else—

an umbrella it might have been. And knowing in which

direction Clyde lived, he had wondered at his walking, when

at Central Avenue, not so far from his home, he could have

boarded the Fonda-Lycurgus car. And Belknap in his cross-

examination inquiring of this witness how, being one

hundred and seventy-five feet distant, he could swear that it

was a tripod that he saw, and Biggens insisting that it was—

it was bright yellow and wood and had brass clops and

three legs.

And then after him, John W. Troescher, station master at

‘Fonda, who testified that on the morning of July sixth last

(he recalled it clearly because of certain other things which

he listed), he had sold Roberta Alden a ticket to Utica. He

recalled Miss Alden because of having noted her several

times during the preceding winter. She looked quite tired,

almost sick, and carried a brown bag, something like the

brown bag there and then exhibited to him. Also he recalled

the defendant, who also carried a bag. He did not see him

notice or talk to the girl.

And next Quincy B. Dale, conductor of the particular train

that ran from Fonda to Utica. He had noticed, and now

recalled, Clyde in one car toward the rear. He also noticed,

and from photographs later published, had recalled

Roberta. She gave him a friendly smile and he had said

that such a bag as she was carrying seemed rather heavy

for her and that he would have one of the brakemen carry it

out for her at Utica, for which she thanked him. He had

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963

seen her descend at Utica and disappear into the depot. He

had not noticed Clyde there.

And then the identification of Roberta’s trunk as having

been left in the baggage room at the station at Utica for a

number of days. And after that the guest page of the

Renfrew House, of Utica, for July sixth last, identified by

Jerry K. Kernocian, general manager of said hotel, which

showed an entry—“Clifford Golden and wife.” And the same

then and there compared by handwriting experts with two

other registration pages from the Grass Lake and Big

Bittern inns and sworn to as being identically the same

handwriting. And these compared with the card in Roberta’s

suit-case, and all received in evidence and carefully

examined by each juror in turn and by Belknap and

Jephson, who, however, had seen all but the card before.

And once more a protest on the part of Belknap as to the

unwarranted and illegal and shameful withholding of

evidence on the part of the district attorney. And a long and

bitter wrangle as to that, serving, in fact, to bring to a close

the tenth day of the trial.

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Chapter 22

AND then, on the eleventh day, Frank W. Schaefer, clerk of

the Renfrew House in Utica, recalling the actual arrival of

Clyde and Roberta and their actions; also Clyde’s

registration for both as Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Golden, of

Syracuse. And then Wallace Vanderhoff, one of the clerks

of the Star Haberdashery in Utica, with a story of Clyde’s

actions and general appearance at the time of his buying a

straw hat. And then the conductor of the train running

between Utica and Grass Lake. And the proprietor of the

Grass Lake House. And Blanche Pettingill, a waitress, who

swore that at dinner she overheard Clyde arguing with

Roberta as to the impossibility of getting a marriage license

there—that it would be better to wait until they reached

some other place the next day—a bit of particularly

damaging testimony, since it pre-dated by a day the

proposed confession which Clyde was supposed to have

made to Roberta, but which Jephson and Belknap

afterward agreed between themselves might easily have

had some preliminary phases. And after her the conductor

of the train that carried them to Gun Lodge. And after him

the guide and the driver of the bus, with his story of Clyde’s

queer talk about many people being over there and leaving

Roberta’s bag while he took his own, and saying they would

be back.

And then, the proprietor of the Inn at Big Bittern; the

boatkeeper; the three men in the woods—their testimony

very damaging to Clyde’s case, since they pictured his

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terror on encountering them. And then the story of the

finding of the boat and Roberta’s body, and the eventual

arrival of Heit and his finding of the letter in Roberta’s coat.

A score of witnesses testifying as to all this. And next the

boat captain, the farm girl, the Cranston chauffeur, the

arrival of Clyde at the Cranstons’, and at last (every step